Tents

“Bivouacking is miserable work in a wet or unhealthy climate, but in a dry and healthy one there is no question of its superiority over tenting. Men who sleep habitually in the open breathe fresher air and are far more imbued with the spirit of wild life than those who pass the night within the stuffy enclosure of a tent. It is an endless pleasure to lie half-awake watching the stars above and the picturesque groupings of the encampment round about, and to hear on all sides the stirrings of animal life. And later in the night, when the fire is low, and servants and cattle are asleep, and there is no sound but the wind and an occasional plaintive cry of wild animals, the traveler finds himself in that close communion with nature which is the true charm of wild travel. Now all this pleasure is lost by sleeping in a tent. Tent life is semi-civilization, and perpetuates it’s habits. This may be illustrated by a simple trait; a man who has lived much in bivouacs, if there be a night alarm, runs naturally into the dark for safety, just as a wild animal would; but a man who travels with tents becomes frightened when away from its lights or from the fancied security of its walls.”